Very impressed by Opera Mobile 10 so far

I haven't spent a lot of time testing the new Opera Mobile 10 (beta), but I'm very impressed by the results so far. I'm testing this beta software on my HTC Touch Pro2 running Windows Mobile 6.1 and it's far better than Opera Mobile 9.5 or 9.7. If it supported Adobe Flash, then it would be a true winner. Over the next several days, I hope to spend more time testing this new mobile browser and comparing it against others such as Skyfire.

Smartphone Wars

I'm a big fan of Star Wars, so I love titles that sound similar. CNN has a story titled, "New iPhone 3GS heats up smartphone wars."Are we really going to see a war? I doubt it. The article starts with this line: "When Apple starts selling what it bills as the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet on Friday, the company's latest entry will only heat up the already sizzling smartphone landscape."

I agree that many new and exciting smartphones are coming out this summer. How will they compete against the Apple iPhone? Will we ever really see a device that comes out as an "iPhone Killer?"

Here's another snippet from the CNN story: "When it comes to mobile Web surfing, the iPhone seems to be the king. A recent report by AdMob found Apple's device generated 65 percent of mobile HTML browsing..."

So perhaps the area that will determine who "wins" this war is simple: mobile browsing. If websites no longer need to format their sites for small screens and if smartphones can efficiently be used to navigate standard web pages, then those phones will emerge as "winners."

Are Mobile Websites Necessary?

Many groups and companies are interested in starting a mobile website. Is this really necessary now that mobile web browsers are becoming more powerful? Is it critical to have a website that is formatted for the mobile screen? Or, will users learn how to zoom in and out and navigate a large webpage on a small screen? My guess is that as smartphones become more powerful, people will use them to browse standard webpages that are not specially formatted for small screens.

If you're determined to have a mobile website, check your web hosting service. Not sure who to use for hosting? Do your research first. Get familiar with some of the common misconceptions associated with web hosting. Your hosting service provider may offer additional resources to help you format your site so that your site meets the standards set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). According to Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the Web., "the Mobile Web Initiative's goal is to make browsing the Web from mobile devices a reality." Last month, they published a working draft of "Relationship Between Mobile Web and Web Accessibility."

One of the key areas of concern on the Internet deals with data security. As expected, the W3C has an entire section devoted to Internet security. Do you browse with caution? Are you using the most secure web browser? Sometimes I wonder about the security of mobile web browsers. They are not built to be as robust as the newest versions of Internet Explorer or Firefox, but I don't know if anyone has done extensive research to investigate how many security breaches occur because people are using mobile browsers like Pocket Internet Explorer, Skyfire, Opera Mobile, Iris, and others.

Using an Extended Battery

Do you use an extended battery on your smartphone? I've been using one on my HTC Windows Mobile phone for the last few weeks and it's been great having the extra capacity. My wife currently uses a Samsung smartphone running Windows Mobile and she hasn't needed an extended battery because she doesn't do a whole lot of e-mail or browsing on her smartphone. I don't have to worry about the battery dying if I do some heavy browsing on Skyfire or tweet using Twobile or PockeTwit.

Iris Update v1.1.7

Have you tried Iris on your Windows Mobile smartphone? It's a great mobile web browser and the update makes it even better. The best part of Iris is that it's free (at least for now). I find that mobile browsing is great, but it also drains my battery quickly. Medical students who want to browse during their clinical rotations will probably need to carry an extra battery (or two).

Those using an Apple iPhone may need one of those external battery packs. Do you think the next iPhone will have a removable battery? No. Look at all the iPods that Apple has released. None of them have a user-removable battery. This is probably one of the major drawbacks of using the iPhone as a mobile internet device (MID).